featured blog posts

Why TB is included in the AMR review is clear: over the last few decades TB has been quietly transforming itself into new strains of drug resistant TB (DR-TB). DR-TB causes an astounding 500 deaths a day and can't be cured with normal TB drugs.

Today's Queen's Speech promises some significant steps forward for the most vulnerable children and young people in the UK today. While we share the Prime Minister's high ambitions for children, the proposed legislative changes are not, by themselves, a fix-all. Every child deserves to have a happy childhood and to get the support they need to succeed in life. They are our future.

I'd hate to be a Negative Nancy, or a fun sponge of any description, but there is no way in hell the Leave camp are going to win the EU referendum. Like with Scottish independence and the Alternative Vote, we will opt for the status quo...

People will try and tell us that this referendum deals with issues that are far too complex for the average person to understand. I believe that we actually face a very simple question: whether or not we believe in democracy? If we continue to find ourselves ruled by people we can't vote for, who are making laws we can't change, we will only have ourselves to blame.

Remember the 2010 election? Remember David Cameron's pledge not to have another top down reorganisation in the NHS which was soon rendered meaningless by the Health & Social Care Act? Well the Tories have learned from all the negative publicity that harmed them last time by seeking to undertake their latest reorganisation away from public scrutiny.

I know some will find my decision not to re-stand for the leadership hard to understand, and I've been moved by the generous words of support from many party members and supporters urging me to continue, but I hope that my decision will help make it clear that the Green Party doesn't operate like other political parties, with a steep hierarchy up which many are seeking to scramble, while those at the top defend their positions. We're a team, we work together and support each other.

When I was at school, the playground was often the scene of 'cussing matches' which, for the uninitiated, were verbal jousts that involved two or more children hurling insults at each other until one of the kids left the field of combat crying, or a fistfight broke out.

Jamila Mammadova is an Expert Consultant at Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Azerbaijan and a Deputy Editor at Caucasus International magazine, published in Istanbul, Turkey. She holds a BA in Law from Baku State University and MA in Global Affairs from the University of Buckingham. Jamila has previously held positions as a Henry Jackson Society researcher and as a producer on The Voice of Russia, both in London.

It is easy to be critical of summits and the communiques that come out of them. There is always lots of politics involved, as different agendas meet and different expectations clash. Perhaps the 2016 Anti-Corruption Summit really will be the start of something new. But given what the leaders have been able to agree on, it might make sense to keep the bunting on hold for just a little while longer.

It's correct that 2015 saw the highest level of house building in a number of years. Around 143,000 homes were completed in total across England. The last time the figures were that high was in 2008. This is still low by historical standards, though...

Today's Anti-Corruption Summit in London is a golden opportunity to deliver on promises the Prime Minister made in 2013, and open up a new era of transparency and openness, with the UK at the forefront. Unfortunately, it looks as though what we will see instead is business as usual...

Britain should remain the EU because we live in reality, not in some romantic fantasy where the UK is a lone power in a world of subservient nations. That is an imperial thought process which went out of fashion decades ago.

We can't say that homelessness has been reduced by 67% or any specific other amount because the Welsh government has changed what they do about homelessness and how they count it. This isn't to say that the changes haven't made a difference; just that we can't put a number on that difference at the moment.

About David Cameron

David Cameron took office in 2010 after forming a coalition government with Nick Clegg. He has since seen the popularity of his party fall as well as internal rebellions against the alliance with the Lib Dems.